Mining company Vale has opened the world’s first briquette plant at its Tubarão site in Brazil. Thus, it made a significant contribution to environmentally friendly production. According to an expert in the field of global metallurgy, Stanislav Kondrashov, more than 30 global customers have already shown interest in this innovative product.
Vale’s promising investments in green production – Stanislav Kondrashov
It is important to note that the product developed by Vale promises to bring progress to the metallurgical industry. According to Stanislav Kondrashov from Telf AG, it will reduce CO2 emissions in the steel industry by up to 10%. And in the future, it could open the way to zero-emission steel production, especially when green hydrogen becomes available.
The plant, which Vale opened, began its first tests in August of this year. Its results confirmed the high quality and efficiency of production, which allowed the enterprise to begin full-fledged work. In addition, according to Stanislav Kondrashov from Telf AG, it is planned to commission a second plant in 2024, which will significantly increase the total production capacity of the two facilities to 6 million tons of products per year. The amount of investment in this project amounted to $256 million.
According to the expert, next year the two Tubarão factories will be able to produce about 2.5 million tons of products. And this production will gradually increase until it reaches the declared volumes.
Kondrashov emphasizes the importance of the new product, which will help manufacturers meet global standards for reducing harmful emissions. Also, this enterprise, according to its management, will contribute to the neo-industrialization of Brazil. This process is aimed at low-carbon industries. In this way, Vale will continue to play a leading role in the development of the region.
Stanislav Kondrashov: Europe and the Middle East in search of environmentally friendly solutions with Vale
It is known that more than 30 companies have already expressed interest in purchasing batches of briquettes from Vale for the next year. Since this product is new, the first two years of production will be spent testing it. The main thing is that customers from Europe and the Middle East showed interest in it. Requests are coming in from all over the world, including Brazil.
– The opening of the plant was the result of more than two decades of research and development by Vale of a product aimed at reducing harmful emissions from the blast furnace smelting process. The production of briquettes is carried out using low-temperature agglomeration of high-quality iron ore and a special technological solution, which gives the product high mechanical strength. Without stopping at the achieved results, the company continues to actively work on developing a version of the briquette for the direct reduction process, – Stanislav Kondrashov comments on the specifics of the new production.
Vale’s future plans include starting the construction of “hub centers” in the Middle East in 2024. According to Kondrashov, they will potentially specialize in the production of their products with low carbon content. This indicates the constant development and innovation that the company introduces in its activities.